Chapter 1. Microsoft Office and XML

Chapter 1. Microsoft Office and XML

Most people who use Microsoft Office see the individual applications
as tools for getting their work done, not as general-purpose
interfaces to information. Sure, people regularly exchange Word,
Excel, and PowerPoint files over email, and there are lots of times
when you need to reuse files you created earlier, but for the most
part information created in Microsoft Office stays in Microsoft
Office, coming or going from elsewhere largely by cut-and-paste or by
often imperfect file conversions.

With the latest Windows-based version of Office, Microsoft has taken
a risky step, opening up Office quite drastically. Developers, even
those who aren't using Microsoft Office—or
even Microsoft Windows—will be able to easily process the
information inside of Word and Excel files. Instead of just creating
Word documents, users will be able to create data files that can be
shared with other processes and systems. Excel users will be able to
analyze data from a much wider variety of sources, and Access users
will be able to exchange information with other databases and
programs much more easily than before. Users of the
Enterprise Edition of Office will also
have a new forms-based interface, InfoPath, for working with other
programs.